Can you mix formula and breast milk?

I usually make up the formula and then mix it with the breast milk. If your baby isn’t staying full for long you may need to up the ounces slightly

You can mix formula and breastmilk in the same bottle, yes. But you need to prepare the formula using water according to the package directions, and then add breastmilk to add whatever additional amount you’d like. You can also just give bottles of formula sometimes and bottles of breastmilk at others, or baby can nurse and sometimes get formula bottles. Lots of ways to combo feed. How old is baby though? Could be cluster feeding or going through a growth spurt - it’s really common for them to feed frequently and doesn’t mean anything is wrong, if that’s your concern.

How often is baby breastfeeding?? Breastmilk is made to be digested fast than formula. They usually need to eat more often.

Yes

Mr dr told me to make the formula separate with boiling water and then mix with the breast milk as needed.

No, you can't replace the water with breastmilk. Make formula separately with water, and then you can mix the formula with the breastmilk. It's best to keep both the same temp, so if breastmilk is cold when mixing so should the formula. It's called combo feeding.

If you’re using premade. It is completely fine too.

What people are not explaining here is why the boiling water: remember formula is not sterilised!!! So you must sterilise it by adding boiling water to it. So do that (even if you add less water given you’ll mix breastmilk with it) and then you can mix. Otherwise you will cause digestive upset to your baby x

My Dr suggested nursing or giving breast milk first, then “top off” with formula… so I would do a full nursing session then give him whatever he would take out of 2oz of formula without spitting up… luckily I don’t have to combo feed anymore but it definitely helped when I did.

As others have said, it's normal for breast fed babies to feed more often as the milk is digested quicker. If you're going to combi feed do not replace the water with breast milk. Always make formula up to package instructions. You can add breast milk later if you wish, alternate feeds etc but remember it might impact your breast milk supply.

Breast milk is easily digested because is not loaded with chemicals. If you’re not content with breastfeeding as it should be in demand and baby’s are very demanding, just feed formula or alternate but don’t replace water with BM.

How old is baby? Just keep breastfeeding if you can. It's the absolute gold standard for baby. It's normal to feed up to every hour when they are new. As everyone has said, the reason they feel fuller on formula powder is because it's full of casein which is difficult for the human infant to digest. There is astronomically more protein in cows milk vs human milk. Formula should only be used in emergencies or when there are no other options available.

No, this is not advised. I think if you are in a situation where baby wasn’t gaining weight and there was concern then something like this may be considered (disclaimer: I’m not a medical practitioner), but if your LO is gaining weight nicely and there is no other concern then it is best to carry on with what you are doing. My baby is on a prescription formula which is very thin and she has severe reflux, which means she can’t take too much milk at a time. Unfortunately this means she feeds little and often so I definitely understand your frustrations. My baby had been feeding every 3 hours over night for a long long time but within the last 2 weeks she’s started to load up with milk before bed and I have been getting some 5 hour stretches here and there, so it will happen but could just take time.

As a EBFM for an entire year and still breastfeeding now that baby’s bigger, They ask for bm often and is extremely exhausting, some nights my baby slept through the night and I still didn’t sleep thinking he was going to wake up 😅 Some kids still wake up a lot even after they turn one, and that’s considered normal. If you want to sleep at night you can use some magnesium ointment in their feet to help them sleep 😊 buy it.

Coming on here to say no one should make you feel bad if you want to mix so I won’t call anyone out but combi feeding provides so much flexibility and there is nothing wrong with it however, if your goal is breastfeeding exclusively for as long as possible keep at it! If you’ve had a rough journey, don’t have the ability to keep trying to boost supply (it is so much work) or like the flexibility of combi feeding go for it! You can do it a variety of ways as many suggested. But you need to use water to mix it THEN mix with breast milk. So mix your formula separately and add into breast milk bottle. Do what works best for you but I’ve had so many temptations to stop EBF or combi and I found if I power through my baby is thriving. I’m 6 months pp so a lot going on with him. Breastfeeding is a crazy ride but fed is best mama